


never let me go

by starkrcmanoff



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Tony Needs a Hug, Tony is oblivious, friends to lover, from rhodey, kinda pining tony stark, on a mission, rhodey's in the army, tony misses him, tony's stupidly in love with rhodey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 00:23:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20282329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkrcmanoff/pseuds/starkrcmanoff
Summary: Rhodey's on a mission and Tony misses him





	never let me go

**Author's Note:**

> Hellooo. It's #rhodeytonyday today on twitter, so i decided to write a (short) fic about them, because i love them with all my heart. find someone who loves tony as much as rhodey do. 
> 
> Anyway, i'm writing in english and it's not my native language. I tried checking the mistakes and typos, but you never know. 
> 
> I hope you'll like it! enjoy :)

You see, Tony loved Rhodey. It wasn’t a secret to anyone. It wasn’t even a secret to him. He just… always underestimated his feelings for him. Because Tony loved Rhodey, much more than he thought. He just wasn’t ready to admit it to himself yet.

Tony and Rhodey had met by accident. Tony had been drunk and gone back to what he had thought was his MIT dorm room – it wasn’t. Rhodey had gotten woken up by a drunk teenager, way too young to be here on his own, when you think about it, because he had looked seventeen at most. Rhodey had accepted him in his room and helped him, thus starting a friendship between them. Because Tony never left him after that. It had bothered Rhodey a bit, at first, but one day he had woken up and realised he liked having Tony by his sides.

They never left each other.

Until Rhodey joined the army and had to leave for months at a time, leaving Tony on his own. Sure, he had Pepper. But it wasn’t the same. Pepper was great, she was beautiful, she was kind, she helped Tony and was always by his side too. But she wasn’t Rhodey. Rhodey was special. Rhodey was his ball of sunshine.

But most importantly, Rhodey was on a mission right now, and Tony was alone. He wasn’t _literally _alone, Pepper was here, but it sure felt like it. Something was missing. Something wasn’t right. So he put some music on, loud enough he wasn’t able to hear his thoughts – because that’s what he always did when he wasn’t feeling okay. It used to be Rhodey, who could make him feel better. He had to find a new way to ignore his thoughts when he started to leave more often.

So, music it was.

And hoodies. Though, not his. Rhodey’s hoodies. They were more comfortable. And too big on him, because Tony was smaller, and he liked wearing oversized clothes. Plus one point if those oversized clothes were Rhodey’s. Plus two if they still had his smell – which they almost always did.

Really, it was so obvious that Tony only had to think about it for two seconds and he’d understand why he was doing all of this when he missed Rhodey.

So Tony was in his workshop, wearing one of his best friend’s hoodie, trying not to think about him while listening to music. And it worked, for a while. But then, he started to link some of the lyrics to Rhodey. It started with one lyrics every five songs, because he was still focused. Then it got out of hand. Every song, Tony started to link something with Rhodey. He just couldn’t stop thinking about him.

God, how he missed him. How he missed his hugs, his laughs, his smile, his smell, his hands, his arms. His voice. Tony couldn’t stop thinking about hearing his voice again. There was something about Rhodey, Tony had always known that. Rhodey was special. He was just realising how much he was.

Maybe he missed him too much. Maybe wearing his clothes all the time wasn’t right. Maybe wanting to be in his arms all the time wasn’t right either. Maybe he loved Rhodey too much.

\---

“I miss you. When are you coming back?”

“I miss you too”, answered Rhodey. “And I’m coming back in three days.”

“Will you go home immediately or…?”

“I’ll come here straight after landing. Like always. I promise.”

“I can’t wait to hug you again. You can’t leave for that long, not again. I don’t like it.”

“And I don’t like being away from you for months at a time either, Tones. But it’s my job. You know it.”

“I know…”, Tony sighed. “I just don’t like it.”

“I have to go. I’ll see you on Friday. I love you, Tones.”

“Love you too…”

Three days. Tony could do it.

\---

He barely made it.

He did. But it was so difficult not to say fuck it and join him. Not that he could anyway. He didn’t even know where he was.

During those three days, Tony had tried to focus on his projects. It hadn’t really worked and he had been most of the time thinking of Rhodey, and of how he’d just run in his arms as soon as he’d see him.

Tony sighed, and decided trying to work was worthless. He couldn’t focus. The music wasn’t helping either. The song was too much of a reminder of his feelings.

“_It don’t make sense but I’m fantasizing about hearing your voice._”

“_That’s not fair, you got everything I need._”

That’s when he realised it. Tony was in love with Rhodey. He was always fantasizing about hearing his voice. All the time. When they were apart, but also when they were together, but not talking. He was in love with Rhodey, and his voice soothed him, calmed him, grounded him. It made him feel like he belonged somewhere. Next to Rhodey. It didn’t make sense to him, but it was what he felt. Rhodey had everything he needed. Love. Endless love. He never understood it until hearing this song, but he did have that with him. Two sentences. It was all it took. It wasn’t a love song per se. But it was what he needed to hear to realise that he was in love with Rhodey.

That he had always been.

“Fuck.”

“What’s that?” asked Pepper, thus surprising Tony.

“I love Rhodey.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“No. I mean, I’m in love with him. I’m in love with Rhodey. I’ve always been.”

“Yeah… I know.” She was now looking at him confused.

“What do you mean, you know? You knew?”

“Didn’t you…?”

“No! I just found out!”

“Tony, how is that even possible? The only thing you talk about is Rhodey. The only thing you think of is Rhodey. You two almost live together, at this point, because he spends most of his time at your place. You’re always wearing his clothes, and sleeping in them too. You’re not feeling okay when he’s on a mission, and you can’t think correctly when he’s not next to you. It’s so obvious, Tony. How could you not notice it?”

“I… I don’t know? Do you think he knows?”

“Tony, he’s in love with you too.”

“Oh. _Oh_.”

“Anyway, I just came here to tell you I was going home. Also, Rhodey’s coming here in two hours, you might want to take a shower and eat something.”

“Yeah, I will. Thank you!”

\---

Tony had taken a shower and eaten a small sandwich. He was now a nervous mess on his couch, waiting for Rhodey, and thinking of what Pepper had told him earlier. She was right. He should’ve seen it sooner. It _was_ obvious.

He was lost in his thoughts and barely heard the keys on the door – yeah, Pepper was right, they were kind of almost living together, Rhodey even had a key. And when he saw Rhodey, he instantly got up.

He couldn’t breathe. Because, holy fuck he was hot in his uniform. But also because he was finally here, in front of him, after months of being away. Tony ran into his arms. And suddenly, all the sadness and the empty space in his heart went away. Tony was complete again. Rhodey hugged him back, hard, so hard, and Tony never wanted to leave this place. God, he had missed him so much.

“Four months is way too long. Never leave me again.”

“I missed you too, Tones.”

Yeah. He’s home, thought Rhodey, still hugging Tony. He never was going to let him go.


End file.
